Meditation For Beginners, Who Are Terrible at Meditation

Basically Oprak create this user-friendly, totally guided, 100% free content that is released daily for 21 days. Each installment runs for approximately 20 minutes and includes an intro by Oprah, a lesson by Deepak and timed meditation with really lovely music. There is even an app you can download in case opening the e-mail they send and clicking on a link is too cumbersome – as it apparently was for me, twice.

Each 21-Day challenge has a different focus. The first one I tried to do was something about finding the calm in your life, the second I can’t remember, and this one is about Manifesting True Success. Bottom line they’re all about centering your mind, but the focus is a nice specific angle…so they can keep doing them, I assume, but that’s fine.

So why do I want to do this? Because it is my understanding that meditation is an incredibly powerful tool for use in calming the hell down, something I could use 20 minutes (or years…) of in my life. Also, I like the idea of starting every day with some thinking, and then some non-thinking. And finally, people who meditate endlessly boast the benefits, and they are almost always people that I like and respect.

So how is it going? I’m not sure I know yet. I have found a comfortable place and way to sit, which took three days. I really like Oprah talking to me every morning. Deepak has had some great things to say – like today he said that our body is our greatest ally in life, and if we can be in touch with it and work in union with it, we’ll be in far better shape emotionally and physically. I tend to treat my body more like this annoying, evil twin that I have to lug around all day/life, so that was a cool brain shift.

But when it comes to the actual meditating, I’m horrible. You’re supposed to keep your mind clear and focus on repeating the mantra over and over again, but my mind immediately races to another topic, and then it’s minutes until I realize I’ve been through three more topics and haven’t said the mantra silently in my head once. It’s frustrating, which is the last thing you want when meditating.

That said, it’s my understanding based on a Google search that this is very common. Meditation takes year and years of practice, and I have given it 4, 15-minute sessions. This time, I’m hell-bent on getting to 21. I’ll provide an update at half of 21 (sorry, don’t have a calculator on the ready). Until then, any advice?

2 comments

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Hi Jessie! YES I have some advice…STOP SAYING YOU ARE HORRIBLE AT MEDITATING!!! The mind wanders…that’s just what it does…and you will get continually frustrated and down on yourself if you are “trying” to meditate to achieve a blank or clear or focused mind. I practice “mindfulness meditation” where the ONE AND ONLY objective is to notice what is going on…not to achieve anything. This is KEY!!! In mindfulness meditation you cultivate a compassionate awareness through the breath…you become aware of the fact that you are breathing and then…and this is KEY…WHEN (not if) the mind wanders, you simply note that it has wandered and return to the breath. It’s simple, but not easy, and has had profoundly decreased my anxiety (after regular 10 min daily practice). I can suggest a few extremely helpful resources for mindfulness meditation…start with Jon Kabat Zinn’s Mindfulness for Beginners http://www.soundstrue.com/store/mindfulness-for-beginners-4003.html and check out JKZ in this mindfulness meditation “taster” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Fa50oj45s Oh and CONGRATULATIONS!!!